Thursday, November 03, 2005

Denmark: Government to demand employment for citizenship

Unemployed foreigners can bid farewell to their hopes of becoming Danish citizens, after an Integration Ministry memo added a new prerequisite to the list of demands for aspiring citizens. In addition to language, culture, and history tests, applicants will also need to have worked for four out of the last five years, according to the memo. The demand is one of several proposals made by the government to tighten citizenship laws, daily newspaper Information reports. The reason for the restrictions is that the government is concerned that new citizens will receive more in state assistance than they contribute to state coffers. The government and support party Danish People's Party, therefore, would 'ensure that people who are granted citizenship have the ability to provide for themselves', according to the Integration Ministry. While the ministry predicts that the rule change would mean that up to 30 percent of applicants would be disqualified, the People's Party put the number significantly higher. They say tightening citizenship rules would mean that more than half of the 10,000 foreigners expected to be granted citizenship this year would be disqualified.Government presents 49 ways to fight terrorism

A new centre for terror threat analysis, more cooperation between the country's two intelligence agencies, and increased camera surveillance are among 49 recommendations the government has received from a committee established to find out how Denmark's response to terror can be improved. The committee prepared a number of suggestions on how to use the telecom sector to help find possible terrorists, including orders for telecom and internet service providers to deliver subscription information to public authorities without a court order. The report also proposed increased possibilities for camera surveillance of central, public areas, transport centres, and other places where large groups of people tend to gather. Seven people are currently under arrest in Denmark, with an additional two incarcerated in Bosnia, under suspicion of planning a terror act.